The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is inquiring into the rape and murder of British teenager Scarlett Keeling, has agreed to hand over the girl’s organs to her mother Fiona Mackeown on receipt of the chemical examination reports.
The reports are awaited from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
In a letter to the British high commissioner to India, Sir Charles Richard Vernon Stagg, on October 14, 2008, CBI joint director (policy) Sudhir Saxena, said, “The reports from both AIIMS and CFSL New Delhi are awaited.”
CBI joint director (policy) Sudhir Saxena, in a letter to British high commissioner to India Sir Charles Richard Vernon Stagg, on October 14, 2008, said, “On receipt of the report and the organs - pieces of both lungs, pieces of liver and half of uterus - can be handed over to Fiona Mackeown after obtaining permission from the children’s court, Panaji.”
Speaking to TOI over the phone from her home in Devon, UK, Fiona, who had written to the CBI seeking Scarlett’s organs, said, “The CBI has said that some of the organs have been destroyed, but they would hand over the remaining organs of my daughter soon. Once we receive the organs, we can give her a decent burial.”
Scarlett’s body had been found on February 19, 2008 at Anjuna beach, and a case of rape and murder was registered.
Fiona had taken her daughter’s body to the UK for a third autopsy after two forensic autopsies at the Goa Medical College and Hospital.
The autopsy at the coroner’s court in Devon had revealed that Scarlett’s kidneys, stomach and uterus were missing. Doctors at GMC’s forensic department had stated that the organs had been preserved for tests.
While Scarlett’s liver and pieces of her lungs were deposited in a sealed envelope by the Goa police with the children’s court, half of the uterus and slides containing tissues were collected from the Goa Medical College and Hospital by the CBI for examination.
The letter to the high commissioner was in response to queries raised by the former in a meeting with CBI officials in Delhi on September 3, 2008. During the meeting, the high commissioner had sought information regarding investigations into the case, especially the return of the organs.
The CBI letter added that following procedure, the remaining biological materials (organs) utilized by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Mumbai, for chemical analysis were preserved for a period of three weeks and thereafter destroyed as per the existing protocol, it being “hazardous” to preserve them.